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Al-Qaida group claims responsibility

London, July 7
A previously unknown group claimed responsibility in the name of Al-Qaida for a series of deadly blasts in London, two news organisations reported on Thursday.

The "Secret Group of Al-Qaida's Jihad in Europe" claimed responsibility for the attack in a Web site posting and warned Italy and Denmark to withdraw their troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, the Italian news agency ANSA and Al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper said.

The claim, also sent by email to the London-based daily, could not be verified and did not appear on any of the main Web sites normally used by Al-Qaida.

"Heroic fighters of the Arab nation, it is time for revenge against the crusader and Zionist British government, in response to the massacre carried out by Great Britain in Iraq and Afghanistan," ANSA quoted the message as saying on a site it named as "el qal3ah.com".

"Our mujahideen have carried out a blessed invasion in London and here is Britain now burning with fear and terror... We have repeatedly warned Britain and have kept our promise." It said the attacks took a long time to plan and required huge efforts in order to ensure their success.

"We are still warning the governments of Denmark and Italy that they will receive the same punishment if they do not pull out their troops from Iraq and Afghanistan," said the statement provided in Arabic to Reuters by al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper. Emails sent by shadowy militant groups claiming responsibility for attacks in Europe have in the past proved to be unsubstantiated.

After the 2004 Madrid bombings a group claiming links to Al-Qaeda, the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades, sent al-Quds Al-Arabi an email claiming responsibility for the blasts. — Reuters